Startup Enterprises Win with New Scaleup Opportunities

Serial entrepreneurs aren’t the only ones who feel the flutter of excitement at a new venture. On-line marketing alone has created enthusiastic startup businesses with massive ‘Tsunami-like’ proportions around the globe. Seasoned investors though, know that of the estimated 300 million startups at any given time, more than half will fall away within two years and the remaining half will halve again in the next two years.

The good news is that business industry giants are making way for the new entrepreneurial culture, bridging the great divide and bringing down barriers traditionally choking the startups. Not only that, they are inviting startups to scale up almost immediately, which will sky-rocket the startup success rate – everyone wins!

First, let the definitions help us keep the differentiation:

• STARTUPS refer to business enterprises or companies with zero traction on an unproven product – whether of a brick and mortar or online profile, who are still at the early stages, precariously figuring their niche in the marketplace.
• SCALEUPS refer to businesses that have already validated their product and position in the marketplace so proving themselves economically viable with sustainable and durable business models.

Big Business Make Way for Startups to Scaleup

The bridge that is giving startups the resilience they need to make the giant leap into scaleup enterprises is built with willing outreach from both the entrepreneurial community and economic giants who control the regulations and investment capability. Like two ends of a bridge, a new breed of market awareness around the globe is extending a hand of help and welcome towards the growing digital marketplace, who in turn, need to reach out and access the new opportunities.

This is no mean feat when we realize how many existing structural barriers have to be removed to facilitate startup growth. That which hitherto not only harmed market access but blunted finance and talent is being torn down in the interests of supporting the ever-growing entrepreneurial sector. The authors of what is come to be called the “Juncker Plan” has set the trend in addressing the blockages and industry giants are already providing massive funding for ventures throughout Europe.

What a relief for today’s entrepreneurial startups to know they can get past the pitfalls with new openings that bring scaling up achievable before they peter out of funds.

One of the biggest snares which entrap startups is overcapitalizing. Yes, technology and connectivity are essential for the survival of your business, but not at any cost. This is one of the key reasons why Huge Connect have developed a range of connectivity solutions for the SMEs in South Africa; minus the big outlay and restrictive contracts.

Startup Hunters Become Scaleup Farmers

So, if the big guns are making the paradigm shift in support of entrepreneurial startup cultures, how are entrepreneurs to reach out in return?

Ironically, it has to start with a fundamental paradigm shift that created the entrepreneur in the first place. Entrepreneurial startups have been likened to hunters, with opportunistic and short-term successes helping them make their mark.

Scaleups though are more like the farming fraternity. With new fields of operation now accessible, sowing seed and going for the long-haul with trust in the law of the harvest, they build their barns to house larger crops. This means there is a sustainable ten-year vision in play rather than the two-year survival goal.

The key to scaleup status involves a critical change in work structure. It means growing up fast as well as smart. It can no longer be about the heroics of a lone founder. It must be about the team.

Remember with independence I can be great and so can you. But with interdependence, you and I together double the success and halve the failure. Putting the kind of growth needed must be based on the tried and tested. ’Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell’, to quote Edward Paul Abbey. Accept that growing pains are gains in the transition process and get the experts in on what works – no messing around, no excuses, no blame.

Four Essential Crossing-Over Steps from Startup to Scaleup Status

• PRODUCT MARKET-FIT

This will be the only entrepreneurial maneuver left to achieve to catapult onto the scaleup platform. If that’s all we have to do then nothing else matters but to devote our first year to finding the sweet spot for our product whereby we know we put ‘X’ amount in we get ‘Y’ in return. Increasing website traffic with Search Engine Optimization will be essential on the agenda going forward.

• FUNDING FOIBLES

Tricky but essential, is the matter of moving from the traditional startup ‘money-tight, poor-cash-flow’, ‘scraping-the-bottom-of-the-barrel’ profile to the level where revenue streams are self-generated and steady. Time to pull up the ‘big boy pants’ and cross the bridge into scaleup territory. Again, ensuring that your overheads are manageable has much to do with the businesses that you partner with.

• TEAM PLAY

Once again, the multitasking, entrepreneurial ‘jack of all trades’, ‘one-man-band’ outfit has to scale up to set up specifically skilled team players for specific roles and develop dedicated departmental structures.

• SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION

Gone are the giddy startup days of ‘make-do’, ‘quickly switching lanes’ or experimenting with untested ideas. The scaleup scenario relies on having organized systems in place where everyone respects each other’s role and areas of accountability.

The blessing of a scaleup enterprise is that owners start to run their business rather than have their businesses run them. Smart management of team players all knowing their respective roles means that structures can be in place which keeps an online business going 24/7. It also means building your enterprise with solid and reliable connectivity solutions which support your business now and in the future.

Committing to business development and reliable connectivity plans from the startup stage will ensure a step up to scaleup status in optimum time.